1. Technical Field
Various embodiments relate generally to an electronic device and a method of operating the same and, more particularly, to a semiconductor memory device including three-dimensionally stacked memory cells.
2. Related Art
A non-volatile memory device preserves the stored data even when the power is cut off. Two-dimensional memory devices in which memory cells are fabricated in a single layer over a silicon substrate have reached physical limits in increasing their degree of integration. Accordingly, three-dimensional (3D) non-volatile memory devices in which memory cells are stacked in a vertical direction over a silicon substrate have been proposed.
A three-dimensional non-volatile memory device includes a plurality of stacked structures in which memory cells are stacked. In addition, each of the stepped structures includes a stepped contact region in order to control the memory cells in each layer. However, since the contact region has a large area, an increase in degree of integration of the memory device is limited.